RHP&EO is the electronic journal of the International Union for Health Promotion and Education

As Time Goes By What Happens With Safe Communities?

Borge Ytterstad and Leif Svanstrom

Hatstad Hospital & Institute of Community Medicine, Univ. of Tromso, Norway and Karolinska Instituter, Department of Public Health Sciences, Sundbyberg, Sweden.

Objective: To present the long term experiences of Community Safety Programs in order to establish the Fundamentals of sustainability.

Methods: Two of the still active programs in two different countries have been analysed - the Falkoping Program in Sweden and the Hatstad Program in Norway. Do they Fulfil the Sixth Indicator For A Safe Community of the WHO:"....must be a long-term program .... "

Results: "You must remember this, a kiss is just a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh, the Fundamental things apply, as time goes by".

In Falkoping the intervention started in 1978 and after 2-3 years a 23% overall decrease of injuries was shown - in some areas 43%. The total number levelled of For ten years and the inpatient rate increased by 5-9% per year when there was no intervention. When the program started in 1992 there was a decrease again.

In Hatstad the intervention started in 1985 and after 8 years in some areas the reduction was about 26% - in some case as high as 53%. However, an increase is observed in some areas. the last two years.

Conclusion: The Future sustainability oF the Hatstad Program seem threatened by the Fact that governmental resources stopped at the end oF 1994! The same thing happened in Falkoping in 1982 when the county Funding was withdrawn: "A kiss is just a kiss and a sigh is just a sigh" The Fundamental things thus apply; When there is no activity - there is no effect!

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